SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

in Kansas, the reporter of this article interviewed judges of the district courts and a prominent
attorney.
These prominent men of the community offered several suggestions that echoed the
comments of the district court justices interviewed in the 1899 Mail and Breeze survey. Judge
A. W. Dana of the First District Court explained that he would limit the grounds for divorce and
further define the vague grounds of “extreme cruelty” and “gross neglect of duty.” He further
suggested that uniform divorce laws should be adopted and a public investigator should
investigate all claims, producing witnesses to uphold his findings. Judge George H. Whitcomb
of the Second District Court argued that the time restrictions should be extended for a person to
remarry following the court’s granting of a divorce. He wanted to extend the waiting period
from six months up to two or three years. Secondly, he requested a public investigator or county
attorney appear in cases where the defendants could not appear for themselves.
Attorney Robert Stone advocated uniform nationwide laws. He explained that the
American Bar Association had appointed a committee to draft uniform divorce laws. He
contended that Kansas should adopt these uniform laws as well as limit the number of grounds
for divorce. Stone elaborated his position, “‘Extreme cruelty, and by that I mean physical abuse,
and faithlessness should be about the only grounds. There is a tendency under present procedure
for plaintiffs to distort and exaggerate the facts. One side comes in and the other does not. It
ought to be the duty of the probation officer or county attorney to frame the issues and appear for
the defendants.’” 132 Each of these men believed that there should be a significant change in the
law in order to decrease the number of divorces in Kansas. Finally, many of the district court
judges stated that fraud and collusion had become a problem in divorce cases.
132 Ibid.
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